5.53. Color http://www.ck12.org
FIGURE 5.114
FIGURE 5.115
Q:Look back at the rainbow that opened this article. Do you see all the different colors of light, from red at the top
to violet at the bottom? What causes a rainbow to form?A:Individual raindrops act as tiny prisms. They separate
sunlight into its different wavelengths and create a rainbow of colors.
Colors of Objects
An opaque object is one that doesn’t let light pass through it. Instead, it reflects or absorbs the light that strikes it.
Many objects, such as the leaves pictured in theFigure5.116, reflect just one or a few wavelengths of visible light
and absorb the rest. The wavelengths that are reflected determine the color that an object appears to the human eye.
For example, the leaves appear green because they reflect green light and absorb light of other wavelengths.